Hard work and too many statistics: An EU farmer’s frustration grows with every click of the mouse

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

LEDEGEM, Belgium (AP) — Farmers have always lived by the whim of nature, but fickle regulation they find more difficult to accept. Excessive red tape has become one of the main flashpoints in weeks of agricultural protests across the European Union. Belgian farmer Bart Dochy experiences the reality of the bureaucratic pressures and understands the pain they cause across the 27-nation bloc. EU politicians are finally heeding the farmers’ call. It is not only because they want the protests to stop but they know that farmers are a key constituency in the June elections for the European Parliament.